Mailing package



L. H. JEFFRIES MAILING PACKAGE Filed April 29. 1920 Patented Apr. 8,i924.

LQ'UIS H. JEFFRIES, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

MAILING Pennac-n.

Application filed April 29, 1920. Serial No. 377,541.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, Louis H. Jnrrmns, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful improvements in MailingPackages; and I do hereby declare the following to be full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to containers e@- pecially adapted for mailingfragile articles, and has for its object to provide a means of thischaracter which will be comparatively inexpensive to manufacture andmore efficient in use than those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel details of construction and combinations of parts more fullyhereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, in

` which like numerals designate like parts in all the views;

Figure 1 is a plan view of a mailing container made in accordance withthis invention;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the container with its lid opened out; and

Figure 4- is a cross sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

1 indicates a lower body portion of a material known as insulite, and 2a top portio-n made of the saine material. To the bottom of the bodyportion 1, and preferably beginning at the right hand lower edge 3thereof, l prefer to secure a strip of paper 4, as by gluing or pasting,and I extend said strip 4 up past the two left hand edges 5 and 6, ofthe two body portions 1 and 2, so as to form a hinge at the point 7. lcontinue the pasting or otherwise securing of the paper 4 over the topsurface 8 of the lid portion 2, up to the point 9 of said top surface 8,and from the po-int 9, I secure paste or glue to the paper, but leave afree iiap 10, as will be readily understood from the dotted lines shownin Figure 2.

The lower body portion 1 of the container is preferably provided with acavity 11 which may be suitably molded or otherwise formed in the saidbody portion, and it is preferably provided with `the curved edges l2,as shown. aid cavity 11 is chosen of such a shape as to fairlyaccurately fit the article to be mailed. For example, if it is a fragileglass photoghaphic negative or positive 13, of a rectangular shape, saidcavity 11 will likewise be of a rectangular shape, as shown. On theother hand, if the container is designed for graphophone records orvictrola records for example, which are of a circular shape, the cavitywill be correspondingly changed to suit said articles.

The container being thus constructed and ready for the reception of thearticle-13 to be shipped, the said article is placed in the cavity 11,as will be clear from Figures 2 and 4, whereupon the flap 10 of thepaper strip 4 is moistened, and it is securely sealed on the under side,as at l5. A stamp may then be placed upon the paper 4, as at theposition 16 illustrated in Figure 1, and the package may be addressed toits destination, the same as is an ordinary letter or package, all aswill be .clear fromk the dotted lines 17 in Figure 1.

When the package arrives at its destination, one may, with his thumbnail, a letter cutter or other instrument, readily sever the paper 4along the line indicated at 18 in Figure 2, whereupon the lid 2 may beopened out, as indicated in said Figure 2, and the fragile article 13removed.

it should be remarked that the insulite material of which this mailingcontainer is composed consists of large and small wood or other pulpfibres interlaced, in such way that the body portion is exceedinglyporous, and therefore it forms an unusually eii'icient cushioning means.As a matter of fact, the pores in thesaid body portion are so numerousand are of such a size that so much air is entrained in said bodyportion that the material itself is about as light as cork, and has manyof the physical properties of cork.L

On the other hand, in order to get this cushioning action, it isnecessary, as above intimated, to use comparatively large fibresassociated with smaller fibres which act as fillers. It results fromthis necessity that the strength of the material is very poor, and itwill not satisfactorily stand the wear and tear incident to shippingarticles, unless said fibres are interlaced or interwoven.

As before stated these mailing packages may be constructed of thematerial known as insulite, or a similar material known as celotex maybe employed, but it should be distinctly understood that this inventionis not limited to either of these materials, for any material havingsimilar properties to those just mentioned is suitable for carrying outthe invention.

In addition to the above mentioned process of interlacing these fibres,in order to give them strength, the Wrapping strip i of paper, since itencircles the entire con tainer, very niaterially'adds to the strengthor' the same, and thus insures a safe delivery of the fragile article tobe shipped.

.In order to still further insure the safety of the package beingshipped, I prefer to Waterproof the fibres of the body portions 1 and 2,as is indicated in the above mentioned application, and I also prefer tofireproof the same. The fireproofing is readily attained by suitablytreating the fibres with a proper fireprooiing compound before theybecome interlaced. Or, in some cases, I may dip the finished bodyportions in a suitable ireproong or Waterproofing compound.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details ofconstruction, vas well as the arrangement of parts, Without departingfrom the `spirit of the invention, and therefore, I do not Wish to belimited to the above disclosure, except `as may be required by theclaims.

What I claim is 1. In a mailing package the combination of a relativelythick lower integral body portion composed of interlaced fibres of pulpformed into a substantially rigid but compressible cushioning mass andprovided With a cavity; an upper integral body portion closing saidcavity; and a paper strip secured to both of said body portionsconstituting a hinge member, a strengthening member and a sealingmember, substantially as described.

2. In a mailing package, the combination of a relatively thick lowerbody portion composed of interlaced fibres of pulp formed into asubstantially rigid but compressible cushioning mass; a cover for saidbody portion; a paper strip secured to said body portion extendingentirely around the same and said cover and constituting a hinge member,a strengthening member and a sealing member; said body portion being provided with a cavity adapted to fit and receive the article to beshipped, substantially as described.

3. In a mailing package, the combination of a body portion comprising areceiving member and a closure member each composed of interlaced fibresof pulp formed into a substantially rigid but compressible, cushioningmass having an article receiving cavity therebetween; and a paper stripconstituting a hinge provided with a space for receiving the addressencircling Vsaid body portion, and having a sealing iap, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

Lome H. Terrains

